]]>38362018 GEORGIA Football Schedule:https://bighairyblawg.com/2017/11/18/2018-georgia-football-schedule/
Sat, 18 Nov 2017 16:40:28 +0000http://bighairyblawg.com/?p=3817BIG HAIRY BLAWG by Han Vance has passionately covered Georgia Football for over ten years and currently posts new content at www.BulldawgIllustrated.com

4/21: G-Day Game -4pm– Go Dawgs!

9/1: Austin Peay – Opener a cupcake.

9/8 at South Carolina – Muschamp’s Chickens improving.

9/15 Middle Tennessee State – Too many cupcakes.

9/22 at Missouri – I’m going this time, with tailgating legend Merv Waldrop.

Summation: Toughest spot on paper is LSU, although Auburn is projected to have most talent of opponents. Kirby failed miserably in both road games versus SEC West so far, and Auburn may give Georgia a strong challenge in Athens, where they have had a terrible go of it of late. Early in the year like it used to always be, the Border Bash sees Chickens improved enough to compete with Dawgs on road, with UGA facing lots of key personnel replacement on both sides of the ball. I see Georgia having a good chance to go undefeated over SEC East again, with new coaches at only other traditional powers Florida and Tennessee. Georgia is projected to be favored in every game on the schedule, and another trip to Atlanta looks probable. With our roster undergoing such major upheaval now, the 2019 squad should be even stronger.

]]>3775BIG HAIRY BLAWG for Bulldawg Illustratedhttps://bighairyblawg.com/2017/08/30/big-hairy-blawg-for-bulldawg-illustrated/
Wed, 30 Aug 2017 00:00:58 +0000http://bighairyblawg.com/?p=3772Han Vance’s BIG HAIRY BLAWG will be presented by Bulldawg Illustrated every TUE & THU this college football season. Be sure and tune in to www.bulldawgillustrated.com to follow all the action, as I closely cover the University of Georgia Bulldogs program. I will simply be posting reminders here at www.bighairyblawg.com, with all the actual content posting at the BI media brand’s site.

Thanks so much for reading me!

-HAN

]]>3772Physical Receiver Options A Needhttps://bighairyblawg.com/2017/08/20/physical-receiver-options-a-need/
Sun, 20 Aug 2017 03:31:47 +0000http://bighairyblawg.com/?p=3763My somewhat limited playing experience was mostly at the position of wide receiver, so I tend to watch the detail of the game relating to the wideouts a little more closely than other positions. In the early portion of last season, Georgia was sorely missing what I call attacking receivers and suffered through ineffective and overly-predictable play calling as a result. Terry Godwin and Isaiah McKenzie simply didn’t have the physicality or mindset for Michael Irvin-like body control and playmaker positioning football; they weren’t high pointing and attacking the ball and they certainly weren’t commanding any space over the middle. Then, Joystick busted out.

McKenzie was easily the best overall football player for Georgia last year. Watching ‘Georgia in 60’ a few times (okay four), the season summarized into an hour of television re-revealed about half of the big plays the team made were made by the diminutive wideout, our greatest special teamer in school history. While his slight stature still necessitated he be fairly open or moving in space to make plays, he made them. In fact, he actually became a bit of a crutch for the offensive coaching staff, which was nationally viewed as underwhelming at absolute best in year 1 of the Kirby Smart regime.

R-R-P. Run, Run, Pass…often punt. It didn’t work, folks. While outside of the Ole Miss beatdown, the Georgia defense actually played well enough to win more than ten games last year. We won just eight.

Riley Ridley, coming out of the bad boy doghouse as he enters his true sophomore season, has all the physical tools. Javon Wims, the senior JUCO transfer who came on later and seems to synch best with Eason, is a huge and talented guy. Mecole Hardman Jr. was such a waste of explosive talent as a gunner on punts, when we needed more playmakers and more first downs. And, it’s time for Terry Godwin to make the big plays, assuming some of the load that went to Joystick. Chigbu, Stanley, Holloman, who wants it? If you want it, men, you have to take it from the other team. Eyes locked on the prize and hands to the ball in an undeniable squeeze and tuck. Command your space and attack the ball in the air and seize the day, because the stars that are aligning right this year necessitate physical wideout play.

]]>3763Big Bang Slate to Start ’17:https://bighairyblawg.com/2017/08/16/big-bang-slate-to-start-17/
Wed, 16 Aug 2017 00:10:26 +0000http://bighairyblawg.com/?p=3714“This is a sweet golden ungodly, unbelievable miracle we have pulled. They broke our hearts, and we just came back down the field.” -Larry Munson (legendary UGA radioman)

To know that Clemson finally won another national championship is to know the University of Georgia can do the same. Auburn, ditto.

Our beloved/hated football league is set to Big Bang boogie-woogie this year with some more mature quarterback play, hungry coming off an ACC outclassing…for one season.

Round here, it’s starting something like this:

8/31 FAMU at Arkansas 8p SECN

9/2 Babies, it’s DAWGS Time! Georgia vs App State 6:15p ESPN

9/2 Bama-FSU (in Atlanta) 8p ABC

9/2 Florida-Michigan (in Dallas area) 3:30p ABC

9/2 BYU at LSU 9:30p ESPN

9/2 NC State at S Carolina 3p ESPN

9/2 Kentucky at Southern Miss 4p CBSSN

9/2 Vandy at Middle Tennessee State 8p CBSSN

9/2 Georgia Southern at Auburn

9/2 Missouri State at Mizzou

9/2 Charleston Southern at Miss State

9/2 South Alabama at Ole Miss

9/3 Texas A&M at UCLA 7:30p FOX

9/4 Georgia Tech- Tennessee (in Atlanta) 8p ESPN

…I’m really going to binge out on some football. GO DAWGS!

]]>3714Eason Not Comparing Favorably at UGAhttps://bighairyblawg.com/2017/08/15/eason-not-comparing-favorably-to-uga-qbs/
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 18:50:25 +0000http://bighairyblawg.com/?p=3750A true frosh quarterback DJ Shockley came off the bench to win the game versus Clemson in Athens while I witnessed from the front row of the winning end zone of Sanford Stadium, after our great redshirt frosh starting quarterback David Greene and company blew a big halftime lead in Athens. Reminiscent now to me how old Greyson Lambert took first and last snaps in getting the final Kickoff Classic win in the Georgia Dome, but our young boy from Washington state Jacob Eason really won the game for Georgia with his nice 2nd half play. Lambert replaced Hutson Mason, who replaced Aaron Murray, who finished with every major offensive statistic in SEC history at his most important of positions. And David Greene finished with the most wins in college football history, so obviously Jacob Eason is not to-date tracking to achieve like those much less-heraled recruits, who developed into such incredible college football players.

My fellow Lassiter High (Marietta, GA) alum Hutson Mason started one season, and he had one statistically very clean and good year, winning 10 games (as a fifth-year senior) and losing three. Mentioning those other two together previously, Shockley and Lambert, because they appear to me to be tied for second on the least career losses of any starting quarterbacks to play for the University of Georgia (while starting at least one season) list.

John Lastinger went 11-1 in 1982 at UGA, building an 11-0 mark with sub .500 passing behind Herschel in his Heisman year, before dropping their final game to Penn State. Earlier, Charley Trippi only dropped a few way back when, too, through a stellar, segmented by WWII career, playing more of a hybrid run-heavy QB role in Georgia’s “Dream Backfield.” They won it all in 1942 with a loss, and then after the War, he came back and took us to an unblemished season in ’46 — your friends at Notre Dame got the votes for the crown. But first returning in 1945 he dropped two games, so he has a third career loss. Shockley was not healthy enough for the loss in Jacksonville (quarterbacked by JT III) and lost only two games as a starter, both razor close heartbreakers. And, believe it or not Greyson Lambert had only two losses. Recall the final wound in J-Ville under Richt, as Lambert averted a potential L there; though we honestly may have won the game if he started, as his strong winning percentage dictates such trend-wise. Given little respect as a player, he went 11-2.

Jacob Eason is 7-5 as a starter, y’all, so he’s an edging of Nicholls State from being .500. While he favors well with a raw Matthew Stafford, who was thrust into the spotlight when JT III couldn’t get it done, Eason’s first year as a starter was hardly an Eric Zeier-like big stats showing. In retrospect, perhaps we should have played our loss avoider longer or more in 2017. While I give Eason his due in that he earned the starting job so quickly, which I heard him (cockily) discuss in his plans to do back when he was just a junior in high school.

Our offensive coordinator oversaw Drew Brees, amongst other less notable and much less successful scenarios. Eason looking like a bonafide future NFL star to any of you in the Dawg Nation? He basically isn’t that widely respected around the league after a year of seeing him on the field, and he’s even slipped down the pecking order of most professional analysts on sophomore QBs in his deep SEC class. While Eason’s arm talent is evident and at the top-tier in college.

I like the guy. Sure, I saw his high school footage and drooled, and I liked the way he played early against Florida and wish-it-were-too-late against Tennessee. But, he has a whole lot to prove as a college player.

Pleased to announce that BIG HAIRY BLAWG has now reached the decade mark. Thank you for reading my college football writing, which has seen us live through so many highs and lows over the full 10 years I’ve been posting. A work of passion, my love for GEORGIA football remains as strong as ever. I expect a big year for our program and am certainly happy to be able to write about it.

Sony Michel started at WR at South Carolina in 2014 due to injuries and lack of depth, catching a pass down the field immediately, running routes with his high school teammate (“Joystick”). With McKenzie departing school early for the NFL after a poor academic showing and highly-dynamic junior campaign, the opening for an in-space playmaker is clearly there at UGA . The “X” factor this football season may be capitalizing on the versatility of the senior running back.

It was much publicized that Nick Chubb returned to school to chase glory, while he has amazingly entered actual distance of Herschel Walker’s all-time SEC running mark. It should be noted that the NCAA does not count Herschel’s (3-year) bowl yardage and does count Chubb’s, but even coming close to the mark is newsworthy. And, these two have been a dynamic duo package deal from day one.

The defense is going to get the ball back for the Dawgs this year. Everybody is back and that side of the ball is mature and loaded.

I know fans were skeptical after a tough 5-loss campaign, but the excuse for UGA’s lack of offensive productivity may be realistic. With a true frosh gunslinger playing behind an underperforming but, more than anything, just not super talented offensive line, options reduced. The predictable run-run-pass (“R-R-P”) play calling was explained away in the name of immaturity and not enough to work with up front.

While the biggest hauls in our stellar recruiting class were big bodied and talented linemen, at least there was enough returning, emerging talent on hand in the Classic City that nobody was immediately thrust into the starting lineup. But it is only a matter of time. If this line can infuse youth to up our frontline talent, while we get improved passing productivity from Jacob Eason, Georgia can win big. Big ifs, I know.

The receiving corps is not as impressive an option to me as getting balls to tight ends and runners in space is. Multiple, the way we came out in the Tennessee game is the way to keep defenses off balance. Lost in the heartbreak and chaos, was that while still showing glaring weaknesses, that was probably our best called offensive football game last season. Coming off a blowout loss, Chubb was injured and only made a cameo appearance in the hard-hitting contest. Resultant was the coaching staff knew ahead of time they had to pull out all the stops and did a rather good job of it, especially for most of the first half. I’d like to see us come out with that creative urgency early and way more often this year. We can’t be settling for punts as much. When we are in the red zone, we must punch it in more regularly. Eason has actually way outperformed the heralded running game in red zone situations.

While Chubb will benefit most from keeping the chains moving, the key to moving those sticks should be his roommate. Sony is playing for NFL riches and has a golden opportunity to enter the spotlight in 2017. And if first downs can lead to more touchdowns, the sky is the limit.

Tennessee – Been a long time since they were ranked above Auburn here, but this is a list about now and UGA simply must end the two-game skid to the SEC East Vols, at Rocky Top.

Auburn – Finally some rosier news, as the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry has been all Georgia for more than a decade, the lone Aubie winners both playing for national titles (they went 1-1).

Notre Dame – At the culmination of the 1980 college football season, Georgia beat the Golden Domers for it all. Prior, our unblemished 1946 side lost the biggest polls national championship votes to their less than perfect platoon, for a then would-be 2nd national championship (1942); the Dawgnation would have a long wait. This away game has so much inner-program hype but is just another big matchup for them.

South Carolina – Winning 11 a year for a stretch there under Spurrier and taking most of the games from us, they were higher.

Vandy – That was a very tough Homecoming loss.

Ole Miss – Former every year rival went up 45-0 on us in Oxford.

Bama – They decimated us in Athens, after we came up 4 yards short of a dethronement in Atlanta. They’ve won SEC 4-of-5.

Kentucky -They pushed Georgia to the edge, of a bad season.

Miss State – A better than average 2017 shall certainly include being the top side nicknamed Bulldogs in our conference.

Clemson – They won it all…like it was 1981. Went 1-1 vs. your Georgia Bulldogs recently.

LSU – We are 1-2 versus them in SEC title contests.

Texas A&M – JUST KIDDING. We have not played since the league went to 14 teams. Missouri could go here or 13. Arkansas is still not a rival, however Georgia has played them in more total postseason games than any other program we’ve competed against.

]]>3708Half-Decade SEC Rewindhttps://bighairyblawg.com/2017/06/05/half-decade-sec-rewind/
Mon, 05 Jun 2017 18:47:15 +0000http://bighairyblawg.com/?p=3697Georgia finished with the 2nd best record of any SEC program over the half decade, with #1 Bama netting two national titles. The parity across the league faded, as nobody accomplished the biggest prize besides Bama, twice. Even the miracle Auburn team that won the SEC didn’t realize the crystal trophy, ending the long SEC run of national championships, by Florida (two), by LSU (two), these programs didn’t get sniffs, as the Tide put away all lingering SEC challengers over this last window.

Let’s look more closely at the league’s programs over the past 5 years:

Alabama – 2 rings and ruled SEC with 4 league titles, a period more dominant even than Georgia’s early 1980’s run. They’ve been 14-1 each of last two seasons. 64-7 (they lost only 7!).

Georgia – sorry, haters. The Dawgs slide into sexy second with a 48-18 mark, the lone divisional championship a 2012 two-loss national title contender also ran. No SECs after none in the previous five equaled the door for Coach Mark Richt. Kirby lost 5 games his first year coaching in Athens, after Richt’s last 4 went: 12-2, 8-5 (injuries), 10-3, 10-3. SEC (East?) or bust in 2017. This year’s GEORGIA team has the talent for a huge season.

LSU- 45-18 and Les was shown the door. Honey Badger and them were considered the best and most accomplished regular season team in college football history, losing a rematch to Alabama they got nothing except an SEC ring, and that was more than 5 years ago now. Nothing, Bayou Bengals.

Texas A&M – 44-21 for Kevin Sumlin. Say what you will about Johnny Football, he was one of the greatest college football players ever. They won most of these in front half of years, for sure and have had no real breakthroughs.

Florida – 41-23, and they are back to winning the SEC East back-to-back, Dawgs, on the strength of 3 straight Cocktail Parties.

Mississippi State – 40-25. Very respectable run for Maroon Pups.

Ole Miss – 39-25. Strong stretch for Oxford’s Rebels, too.

South Carolina – 38-26, the Ball Coach had a few good years.

Auburn – 38-27, Auburn is way back in the pack, while we’ve consistently whipped all Aubie squads that don’t reach the national championship game for more than a decade. If you’re looking for those extra losses Auburn fans, they’ve been Georgia.

Missouri – 37-27, two SEC East crowns.

Tennessee – 35-28. Eleventh in the SEC, Vols. Barely on the list.

Vandy – 31-32 is actually an almost accomplishment at this private school, but win one more to be respectable, little ‘Dores.

Arkansas – 29-34 is sub .500 and should be better.

Kentucky – 21-40 and won just 2 twice.

]]>3697Welcome Backhttps://bighairyblawg.com/2017/06/04/big-dawgs-welcome-back/
Sun, 04 Jun 2017 22:45:15 +0000http://bighairyblawg.com/?p=3680My annual Dawgs welcome back to the Blawg hereby extends a real hopeful encouragement throughout our program. A football program seemingly poised for an immediate uptick, we are actually on somewhat of an uptick now after going 4-1 late.

And: “It’s Saturday…in Athens” when little App State comes to the Classic City for an early evening (6:15 p.m.) summer tussle. The Mountaineers have the third best record at our level of football over the past two seasons (Clemson, Bama), but Georgia has the 2nd best winning percentage of SEC teams over the past five, to an Alabama who won two national titles during the window. Georgia was a one-loss national title contender SEC East champ who then came up four yards from a promise of glory in Atlanta, yet were Orlando-bowl relegated in 2012. We have nothing more to show for it.

Welcome back for your senior years, to the guys. We had a lot of great guys stay and have a lot of key guys healthier and more mature. We get back our whole defense (16th in nation) and actually add major playmakers on that side of the ball. It’s at the very least going to be an interesting year when you suit up a defense like ours this season. GEORGIA hasn’t had a defense like this since we were a national title contender, folks. Throw an upperclassman Aaron Murray who could throw guys open on this team, and we’d easily be a legit contender to win it all this year.

Instead, we’ve got a 2nd year top recruit in the country big gunslinger who must show maturation, backed up by another new 5-star quarterback. Brice Ramsey is staying after all, after making the play of the game in the nice bowl win on a fake field goal pitch. Welcome to UGA, Jake, and welcome back to class, Mr. Eason. Let’s see it.

Welcome back senior runner Sony Michel, he finished just under 300 yards short of Chubb’s team leading eleven hundred in 2016, where Chubb slipped to five yards per carry, from an amazing career average of seven per run over his first two years. Consider that Chubb gashed UNC for 222 in the Georgia Dome opener while Sony was hurting early, from a sporting utility accident. Throw out that game – which who would want to, it was our 2nd-best win of the whole damn year – and they played equally last season, with Chubb getting much more of the work. I’m calling for Sony to get way, way more touches in 2017.

When, Heisman Trophy candidate senior running back Nick Chubb returns to stalk the school and conference rushing record held by Herschel Walker (he needs 1,800+ yards). We are witnessing greatness in this backfield at UGA, fans, and I’m frothing at the mouth.

Welcome to an already much more pressure filled and promising second season at your school, Coach Kirby Smart. This is a key moment in the regime of Greg McGarity as athletic director, as well.

Pick ’em: I see all the big rivalries flipping in revenge wins, Georgia takes out Florida and wins at Tech and also at Tennessee, while UGA finally drops another game to Auburn on the Plains, getting Bama in Atlanta. Nobody wants Alabama in Atlanta. If somehow an Auburn or LSU could get through, Georgia would have a higher probability of winning. Though, if we can put it together enough to capture the East from Florida again, we can compete in any one football game. We’ve yet to face Auburn for the league title and are 1-2 versus LSU. I like Georgia in what is being called a tossup at Notre Dame early.

]]>3680UGA Bowl History:https://bighairyblawg.com/2016/12/28/uga-bowl-history/
Wed, 28 Dec 2016 19:05:06 +0000http://bighairyblawg.com/?p=3627With a bid accepted to play TCU in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis on Friday December 30th at noon EST (11a kick in Mempho), Georgia has tied for 4th-most bowl appearances in the country and currently has the 3rd-most bowl wins of any program.

I will be there (my parents actually went to TCU).

Most appearances, including a +1 added for 2016 football season, where applicable, all CFP games are to be counted as bowls: BAMA 65, Texas 53 (no bowl), Nebraska 53, UGA 52, Tennessee 52.

Nobody besides BAMA has been as clearly consistent in the history of college football bowls since the 1940s, and they have certainly had their dips. Now you fully see just how mighty the GEORGIA job really is! It’s huge. We are a great football tradition.

Behind only VATech (24), Georgia has the second longest bowl appearances streak going at a full twenty. It’s fair to note that FSU and Ohio St had played in more consecutive than either prior and continuing, but eligibility problems caused vacated bowls. Vacated means it does not favorably count for said school, according to the rules of NCAA records.

These three rankings looked at cumulatively show the high quality of our program and in the bowl appearance streaks category, otherwise mighty BAMA is nowhere in our sight. This proves that we are one of, if not actually the single most, consistent programs in the entirety of the college football bowl era, but with our national titles way back in the early ’40s and ’80s (1942, 1980) it’s been such a long time since we dominated and shined at the highest level.

The University of Georgia also extended the longest active bowl streak in the SEC. At a time it was generally considered the toughest football conference in America, we’ve made bowls for two decades.

Last year’s graduating senior class at Georgia won 3-of-4 bowls, and the Dawgs have celebrated 7-of-10 (including 4 straight once). The program has also won 10-of-15 and a running total of 14-of-20.

Back in 1990, 1993, 1994 and 1996, Georgia didn’t get a bowl game, as the program transitioned from the good Ray Goff years (just two, one 9-win team winning the Independence over Arkansas and a team a mere 3 points from perfection winning the Citrus over Ohio State), to the bad Goff years and to the dawning of the Donnan era. After missing a bowl and going 5-6 to start, Jim Donnan quickly rebuilt Georgia and went 4-0 over the next four years in the postseason, never making a major bowl or winning any SEC titles.

Mark Richt lost his first bowl game (in Nashville, I was there) after an 8-3 regular season and then was by far the best active bowl coach in the SEC at the end of his tenure at UGA, based strictly on bowl winning percentage. Richt made 3 BCS bowls, all Sugars, over his tenure in Athens, going 2-of-3, with the wins over Hawaii and FSU and a loss to WestVA, in a Hurricane Katrina-relocated to ATL game. Richt was 9-of-14, and then the last team he coached also won its bowl, after he left to coach at Miami. At Georgia, he won two SEC titles, the school’s only during the long bowl run. Richt coached for the SEC in Atlanta five times, with six* SEC East championships (*includes ’07 co-champs). SEC (and other conferences’) championship games are considered “postseason” but do not count toward bowl records.

UGA is 29-19-3 in bowl games. In the Donnan to Richt regime change Georgia went 8-of-10 in bowls, the best stretch in school history. At his best, Richt once went 7-of-8. I’m hoping Kirby keeps it going, and we get into the NEW YEAR’S SIX and beyond. Though, 7-5 and heading to the Liberty Bowl honestly doesn’t suggest it.

A dozen SEC moments upcoming this holiday season; a full 12 league teams are going bowling, including (5-7) Miss State who upset Ole Miss in the Egg “Bowl” and had a better APR (academic progress rate) to add insult to injury. Only the Rebs (who destroyed us in Oxford) and rebuilding Mizzou missed a bowl in our league this season. That crappy old school from the plains, (8-4) Auburn made the sUGAr this year, by the way. The swing between 5 and 8 wins is relatively small in an SEC that had no second tier and lots of 3rd and 4th tier squads.

Let’s get that 30th bowl win, Dawgs, and start the all-important coaching year two with a strong finish to an up-and-down 2016.

I will be reporting from Memphis with my lovely alumni wife by my side and am doing some photography of our fans for Bulldawg Illustrated, and be on the lookout for my new full-length article on every SEC Bowl (also for Bulldawg Illustrated) coming soon.

~Great HOLIDAY GIFT! Please buy my new book for yourself or the Dawgs fans in your life. It’s $17.85 (signed). Thank you!

Special guest Drew Mitten joins “Richt Era: 15 Years in Athens” author Han Vance for the 5th edition of his annual Bowl Show from Atlanta. Link to the podcast of the show is above, copy & paste in browser.

To buy a signed copy of “Richt Era” go to: www.silverstonepress.com

]]>3652Complete Georgia Bowl Historyhttps://bighairyblawg.com/2016/12/04/complete-georgia-bowl-history/
Sun, 04 Dec 2016 15:34:04 +0000http://bighairyblawg.com/?p=3619There is speculation that we may play our first ever bowl opponent TCU (my parents are/were alumni) in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. I’d be happy to visit. ~Buy my new book “Richt Era: 15 Years in Athens” at Silver Stone Press online: www.silverstonepress.com

The harsh reality of a subpar campaign sets in with a month before a mid-tier at best bowl game. Our 3-game winning streak came to a thudding end with a 4th quarter collapse. Tech has won 2-of-3; Florida 3 straight; Tenn twice. (7-5 overall, 4-4 SEC, 1-of-3 in traditional rivalries)…When the clock struck zero on us in Athens, and we were the second best college football program in the Peach State, losing the Governor’s Cup at home, again, reality set all the way in. A stark truth could have been partially obfuscated if we had won, but it is utterly undeniable now: The Kirby Smart experiment was a total failure in Year 1. A game above .500, thanks to a miracle at Mizzou.

The Auburn (our lone old rivalry win) and once-looked-big UNC victories retain virtually no luster, as old Carolina lost Tobacco Road bragging rights to sorry N.C. State and Aubie continued to skid from a lofty (over) ranking toward total unimportance again.

The powerful league we play in itself is down, and we fit right in with the likes of Mississippi State, Kentucky, Vandy and Arkansas.

Hang your hats on a 3-1 stretch and you aren’t seeing the forest. The trees we timbered were little Ragin’ Cajuns, Le bleu Wildcats football and a depleted bunch of Plainsmen. We accomplished nothing, y’all.

Another Saturday…In ATHENS!!! Another heartbreaker for the loyal nation of fans. The Tennessee Hail Mary. Homecoming. Then this. I love GEORGIA and this really smarts, right now. This hurts.

Tailback U: Steady rock Nick Chubb moved into third on the all-time UGA rushing list, barely behind beast Todd Gurley and a far stretch from the greatest college player of them all, bumping my great classmate Garrison Hearst to fourth. While perhaps the most underused athlete at Georgia since future NFL MVP Terrell Davis, PLAY STATION Sony Michel hung 170 on the Jackets. Expect both backs to leave for the league, after a 1,000-yard season for Michel last year and Chubb battled all the way back from an atrocious injury.

These aren’t Kirby’s guys. The tops in the nation talent pool at running back that Richt rode to a play away near miss versus mighty Bama and nothing more is finally departing the Classic City. GURSHALL was Todd Gurley, Keith Marshall. Nick Chubb replaced and teamed with Todd. Sony Michel replaced and teamed with Nick. It’s over. I don’t see Brien Herrien ending up on any list of UGA legends, and Holyfield was so not ready, so not the real deal as a true frosh that he played so little that he may still be able to redshirt. These players don’t come around so often, even at Tailback U.

Eason going to save us? He regressed again Saturday, so far that he, and the unending Georgia tradition of throwing numerous receiver screens behind the line of scrimmage, basically cost us the game. We needed 30 to win, I said at the start. We got 27. Roquan was on and Bellamy bringing the big blows. But even with Sony getting his buck seventy and Chubb scoring touchdowns, we folded. We faded late.

Mel Tucker, although his defense was a clear notch or two down from Jeremy Pruitt of the year past, may be off to head coach Georgia State, as they prepare to take over the Ted (the Braves old stadium). Nobody will cry if our offensive coordinator leaves Athens, too. Two new coordinators on both sides of the ball very rarely net a big year.

No reason we can’t move up some in 2017, though, with every team in the SEC outside T-Town going to have a minimum of four losses this year, unless Florida upsets the Tide. They won’t. The SEC East suddenly looked resurgent as Georgia beat Auburn, Florida won at LSU, Mizzou upset Arkansas in the Ozarks. Then, on Saturday the division went 1-3 versus the ACC, the only winner Kentucky.

10-3 and unsatisfied, 10-3 and unhappy…then 7-5, with a bowl left. Look for the powers that be to match UGA with 8-4 Miami; they’ve now won four in a row and are coached by the man who had the best bowl winning percentage of any SEC coach during his league tenure. Yes, I was unsatisfied. Yes, I was unhappy. Yes, I miss winning.

___Re-live all the triumph and tumult of the Georgia Bulldogs over the past decade-and-a-half this holiday season, buy my new book:

Across the SEC landscape, the coach I consider the best in the division became the first ever to reach the SEC title game in his first two seasons, as dreaded Florida will again battle BAMA in Atlanta. This is by far the most common matchup in league championship history and should come as no shock to anyone who saw Florida shut us down 24-10 in Jacksonville. Tennessee’s upperclass laden dream team won nothing, after falling on hard times since the Hail Mary in Sanford. We are a notch below two-loss Florida and know what we have to do, who we have to beat and best to get where we want to be. We can do it!

Mark Richt went 8-4 in his first year as UGA head coach, so with one big Peach State Governor’s Cup victory, Smart can match that record before heading to a mid-tier bowl. As I discussed earlier today, the losses are piling up across the league and the bowl slotting is still way up for grabs below the top. As prime example, LSU now has the same number of losses as the Dawgs – although they have yet to yield over 21 in a game. We gave 21 inconsequential points to their state non-rivals in Athens, while Nick Chubb showed a return to 100% form and Joystick exploded for multiple huge plays Between the Hedges. It was the only “easy” win of the season for GEORGIA. Win next week and the program appears clearly headed in the right direction.

Lose and the light that came on with a win in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry against then #9 Auburn goes all the way out. Must win.

Noon. Athens. See you in the Classic City, where I will be selling my book in person. You can buy it now by mail at:

Some headlines are truer than others, although that is factual. Here’s your big BLAWG for the Blackout Game. Should go way better than the last time we wore our darkest jerseys.

Kind of an off week and an off year in the SEC. I’m pulling for any team other than Alabama to win the national championship, as a border neighbor dominating you so much is very bad for business.

It’s not just our Georgia Bulldogs, every program in the greatest conference in the history of athletics except for Alabama has struggled this season. The team closest to the Tide in performance, as has often been the case since they broke out of their shells in 1990, is the two-loss Florida Gators. They play at LSU, in a rescheduled game, against a three-loss team, that has given up 21 or less in every game this season.

Like Hot Rod I’m rockin’ Rec Specs. See my last BLAWG post for further interpretation; I’m just giving Blankenship another ovation. My old Marietta in the house over the holidaze. We are a pretty huge GEORGIA family, with two of us brothers and one wife (mine) holding UGA degrees. Kirby must have a Christmas scholarship for you, “Blanky” dude. Just keep on kicking it through.

I have had my GEORGIA glasses on so much this year, I’ve failed to relish in the misery of our rivals enough. With the UGA glass tilting from above half full (3-0 with a big win over UNC in ATL and some resilient late game heroics), to too far below half empty (1-of-5 with no Saturday wins and a myriad of heartbreaks), to back to half full again (two straight SEC wins with the Ragin’ Cajuns rolling in). The powerhouse SEC schools we would normally be looking up at with our four losses aren’t getting it done either, folks. I actually see the talent on defenses across the league at or near peak and the offenses so far down that we, we at GEORGIA with no touchdowns in our last big game and only one in the biggest game, prior, are poised to recapture the East next year as we move on to bigger and better things. The talent will flock to block and catch for Eason while Kirby Smart, Mel Tucker, Tracy Rocker and company make NFL-ready defenders.

Either BAMA goes on probation – there are still some smoldering guns around that never came to an NCAA slow conclusion (like DJ Fluker, who I met in person, who actually not only received but deposited agent money while a team member) or evil Nick Saban retires or you can forget about passing them soon. The momentum has now been too great for too long and they have backloaded too much talent – they are so far ahead of the league. Expect a dip when either happens and the most storied program in the South (Notre Dame and USC are in contention nationally) to slip back, way way back to the pack. They were way down for years as they burned through coaches and probation periods with only one- and two-year wonder teams thrown in; they were often bad since Bear.

Until then, honestly, we would be much more realistic to aspire to be what we once were: Good. At bottom is an excerpt from my book on what was our shot at a dethronement before the Crimson dynasty grew so long-dominant no end was in view. Their backups would have as good a shot as any other team’s starters to win the SEC.

So let’s remove big bad Bama from this conversation until we are good again. Then we can make another run at them. Maybe. With 5-7 teams needed to fill the overly-numerous bowl slots nationally last year and quite probably again this year, no SEC team has been eliminated from the postseason. Excepting Bama, mighty GEORGIA is currently one game off the best overall season record in the league with the exception of Florida. Should the Gators lose as projected by Vegas and the media at LSU and to their instate rivals of FSU, then just as last year Georgia could end tied for the second best overall record of all SEC teams, if we win out and you throw in a few other teams getting just one more loss. We won out last year, too. In 2015, it was 1. Alabama, 2./3. Georgia/Ole Miss (10-3) and on down. The longest win streak also belongs to, amongst others, UGA at two games.

We have the talent on hand in Athens and in this state to make a surge over the next two seasons. Eason will be the #1 overall pick the year after, and I’d hate to see his superior talent wasted, like say Stafford’s. Matthew has zero SEC rings, never played for the league title and had one total good team year while at Georgia.

~PLEASE BUY MY NEW BOOK:

“Richt Era: 15 Years in Athens” ~Available at Avid Bookshop on Prince Avenue in Athens or get it sent to you directly from:

www.silverstonepress.com

$17.85 (signed, just $3 domestic shipping)

excerpt:

ATLANTA, GA – December 1, 2012

~ SEC Championship Game vs. Alabama

Five long and often really rough years later, for the first time during the Richt era, the SEC title – which he’d won way back in 2002 and 2005 – and the biggest prize national championship are both still in play late in a football season.

This is Richt’s fifth trip to the SEC championship game and Georgia is truly loaded: NFL talent on defense at every position, the all-time SEC great Aaron Murray finally a matured upperclassman ringleader and a true freshman beast named Todd Gurley at runner.

In back-to-back trips to the SEC championship game in Atlanta, UGA came in as underdogs. A ten-straight wins Georgia team had folded badly to LSU in the second half after stuffing them for almost the entirety of the first. Facing storied BAMA, this year’s edition of the Dawgs publicly vowed to at the very least play hard for a complete football game. The winner was not only to earn another coveted SEC crown but was intriguingly set to face resurgent Notre Dame, UGA’s 1980 title challenger and Alabama’s primary competition for the single greatest college football program in history.

A big part of us is still there, in that Georgia Dome turf, so close and yet so far. The Dawgs played ahead through much of the hard-fought game and were forced to rally after Alabama took a late lead behind power running and a bomb.

Ball on the 43-yard line, and in one of his biggest passes at Georgia, Murray is in shotgun where he sees Tavarres King near the 35 and drills a strike to him between two defenders, King getting hit hard and hurt by C.J. Mosley on the play.

Murray in gun again and his best friend on the team Arthur Lynch on a deep tight end cross, dragging a guy to the 12-yard line.

No timeouts and 15 seconds left in the SEC season. If needed, two passes to the end zone upcoming. Georgia runs to the line but does not ground it, instead snapping with 9 seconds left: opting for a hurry-up throw to the front right corner of the end zone, where Malcolm Mitchell had the angle on a DB for an outside shoulder completion, similar to the one he made earlier in the year to beat Florida.

Instead, the ball was barely fingertip tipped (Mosley, again) and redirected shorter and directly to our wide out Chris Conley who went down at the 4. Alabama D.C. Kirby Smart was seen immediately celebrating with his guys on the field after the clock expired on the SEC season and Richt’s best shot at a national title.

Georgia fell just four yards short of eternal glory… It’s total heartbreak.

]]>3585Back Quarterhttps://bighairyblawg.com/2016/11/17/back-quarter/
Thu, 17 Nov 2016 22:13:38 +0000http://bighairyblawg.com/?p=3577A quarter of a football season remains, essentially. You get two more noon home games and one is garbage and then a full month off before a mid-tier at best bowl game. So exciting…it gives us another reason to play better next year and beyond, for sure. Keep the season and the entertainment alive. When they implemented these permanent twelfth regular season games, the idea was that it would breed better competition out of conference regularly. While we do see way more big inter-conference games these days, like our second biggest win of this year, UNC vs UGA, what we generally get mostly instead is just more cupcakes for the SEC. Nobody likes these games. They should be limited to one per season, Greg McGarity, and whenever at all possible should at least be a game of some local regional interest, like say Georgia versus Georgia Southern or Georgia State or even Kennesaw State. I say we set up a semipermanent rotation with those three and then bring in one more distant team. Southern Miss or UAB would be much more appropriate than these Louisiana schools.

You didn’t need a preview of FCS (sidebar: there has been no 1-AA for years, Paul Finebaum, just yesterday this “expert” said “1-AA” twice) Nicholls State, and you don’t need anyone to break down the Ragin’ Cajuns for you. They play in the Sun Belt and aspire to reach the New Orleans Bowl, played at the site of the sUGAr Bowl in their best seasons. This is not their best seasons, either. They are 4-5. So we are a game-and-a-half better in record (at 6-4).

We just won a (second) big game. Glory to Ol’ Georgia!

Far sidebar: I graduated high school in Marietta in 1989 and took a gap year before attending the University of Georgia from 1990-1993 and then again from 1996-1998, an as-is-average-amongst-graduates full five academic years period of schooling at the nation’s oldest state chartered public university. I lived and worked in Athens through the end of calendar year 1994 after traveling California early that fall and went to the rest of the games on my old roommate Jeff Wallace’s student tickets, in place of his girlfriend who was disinterested. I even caught a game in person the year I lived down in Orlando, Florida (1995), seeing Steve Spurrier’s eventual national champion Gators score 50 Between the Hedges. That game was certainly no UGA poster child for moving the series back on campus. After an Atlanta Olympic summer, I was back in Athens and at all the games, usually with my brother Johnny who was by then a sophomore (on the four year Honors plan). I’m reckoning that amongst the 300,000 living University of Georgia alumni, I saw nearly as much football as any from the time I enrolled until I graduated. Some good football, sure, but lots of mediocre teams that hoped for say the Peach Bowl at best after losing lots of games.

Farther sidebar: I was born in Texas and first moved to Georgia in 1976 on America’s 200th birthday. I’ve been blessed to always live in the beautiful South and first moved back to the Peach State in 1985, after grade school years here. In between, I lived in Louisiana. Southwest Louisiana (now called Louisiana-Lafayette or just “Louisiana” but LSU so prefers they don’t say that that they legally blocked a complete name shortening) was where I looked to potentially play basketball, as the leading scorer on my 7th grade team in Big Lake. We moved around the Sportsman’s Paradise (way too much, Dad!), and I lived in the town of Northwestern State University (Natchitoches) as the lone starting wideout for the city’s only 8th grade team. I was next shipped into Jonesboro from rural Louisiana to play 9th grade football, registering Dad’s office as our home. We toured Louisiana Tech as a team full of talented kids, where I again contemplated going down south to be a Ragin’ Cajun. The real culture of the state is the southland. My life went a different direction, but I’ve always been a bit of a Cajuns fan.

Possible/Realistic Bowl Slots This Season for GEORGIA:

Shreveport, LA _ Independence Bowl (vs. ACC)

Nashville, TN_Music City (vs. Big 10 or ACC)

Charlotte, NC_Belk Bowl (vs. ACC)

Memphis, TN_Liberty Bowl (vs. Big 12)

Birmingham, AL_Birmingham Bowl (vs. American)

Jacksonville, FL_Taxslayer Bowl (vs. Big 10 or ACC)

Houston, TX_Texas Bowl (vs. Big 12) {often SEC West

Outback Bowl in Tampa — Looks out of reach

Citrus Bowl in Orlando — Out of reach

Sugar Bowl in New Orleans — I wish…

“You talking about Playoff?” Peach Bowl (in ATL, for BAMA)

-I’m hoping for a GEORGIA-Miami matchup, and I think Nashville would be a pretty fun place to eat and drink this winter.

Big rivalry game next week in Athens! Go Dawgs!!!

~PLEASE BUY MY NEW BOOK:

“Richt Era: 15 Years in Athens” ~Available at Avid Bookshop on Prince Avenue in Athens or get it sent to you directly from:

www.silverstonepress.com

$17.85 (signed, just $3 domestic shipping)

_I will again be covering all SEC bowls this year for multiple media outlets, as I have for the past four seasons. #HanVance